Those who use a walking stick or cane often find themselves in a situation where it is necessary or desirable to perform some function at a location remote from the user's hands. For example, putting on shoes requires an unassisted user to bend over and slip a foot into the shoe, using one hand to manipulate the edge of the shoe so the foot slips inside. Shoehorns have long been known to assist putting on shoes and long handled shoehorns are known to avoid bending over. Shoehorns are also known to be incorporated in walking sticks as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,966,316 and 5,392,800. Other disclosures of combined shoehorn/gripper devices are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,591,226 and 4,709,839.
Another example of a situation where a walking stick user finds it desirable to perform some function at a location remote from the user's hands is picking up objects that have fallen on the floor. Gripper devices have long been proposed to be incorporated in walking sticks as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,905,076; 4,200,322; 5,176,160; 5,392,800; 5,636,650 and 5,640,985 and UK Patent Application 2,122,077.
It has been proposed to provide magnets in walking sticks or similar devices to assist a user to pick an iron object off a floor or other remote surface as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,347,382; 3,591,226 and 5,392,800. The difficulty with permanent magnets in the foot of walking sticks is that magnetizable debris on the floor inadvertently collects on the foot during normal use and is a considerable inconvenience to remove.